On the bus ride from the airport (Aeropuerto International Cataratas del Iguazú), our guide reminded
us how lucky we were. He said, "If you were here yesterday, you would
have been soaked, it rained hard yesterday. Today is a little bit
cloudy, but a perfect day to visit the park.” It was spring in Argentina
and Brazil – one of the best times to see Iguazu Falls (another best
time to visit is fall). Summer is intensely hot and humid, and in
winter, the water level is considerably lower. Our guide gave us a little information about the National Park for which the falls are part of the ecosystem protected by both the Argentine and Brazilian government. He talked about logistics - how long it should take us to walk the upper circuit (trail) and the lower circuit, but gave no statistics about the falls. He told us about the birds (Great Dusky Swift) that fly through the mist and nest on the rocks behind the waterfalls.

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The Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine had been on my list of National Parks to visit. My original plan was just to hike, I did not plan on doing any other activities like kayaking or swimming, So I thought one day was enough to enjoy the park. However, Acadia National Park has more than 125 hiking trails and a variety of landscapes. People pretty much go to Acadia National Park to enjoy the landscape and the amazing views. I took a short hike and a scenic tour, soaking in the beautiful landscape that included shoreline, woods, lakes, ponds, and granite-domed mountain – the Cadillac mountain.

There were free shuttle buses to the park from Bar Harbor, a quintessential New England coastal town, sandwiched between the ocean and the mountains. I joined eight people on a 12-seater explorer bus. From the National Park entrance, the road climbed through a forested mountain, blanketed with green trees; maple, beech, jack pine, and other hardwood trees. Our driver pointed to the area …

On a recent trip to the Baltic, I had the chance to visit the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum of Latvia, one of the oldest and largest open-air museums in Europe. It’s located on the banks of Lake Jugla and just 30-minutes drive from downtown Riga. The museum was established in 1924 and had collected 118 historical buildings from all over Latvia. Information as to when and where the building was built and when it was added to the museum is posted on each building.

On a beautiful clear day, with blue skies and fresh air in abundance with temperature in the mid-60s Fahrenheit, I expected a few visitors around, but there seemed to be no other visitors but our group. Which is strange since there were lots of tourists in the Old Town, Riga about eighteen kilometers away.

After the museum entrance, we entered the first building - a barn with a collection of ancient wooden carriages on display. But the information posted on the building describes it as Roadhouse Pub built in the district of Ba…

I spent my fair share of time in the northern part of Thailand, volunteering at the elephant farm five years ago. I really enjoyed my stay with a local family and learned about their culture and where I began to understand why Thailand is called 'The Land of Smiles'. For some reason, I never had a strong desire to visit Bangkok, probably because big cities are off-putting to me. It’s only now that I realized how much of a missed opportunity this had been and glad to include it in my epic Southeast Asia travel this year. I began my trip to Bangkok with the knowledge I learned from volunteering in the northern part of Thailand where I felt safe.

Right after landing at Suvanabhumi airport and going through customs, I went straight to a transportation booth to ask where I could find a cab to my hotel. Instead of pointing me to the cab waiting area, I was led to believe that I was in the right place. A man pointed me to the clerk at the counter who started preparing a receipt for…

I was walking the Balsam Hollow trail when deep in the forest, I heard bird songs in concert with the sound of rushing waters. I stopped at the tiny bridge to listen to the sound of the rushing waters and admire the streak of sunlight reflected on the water under the giant trees when a girl with long red hair and wearing a dull-grayish puff sleeve dress with a cream-colored apron came skipping through the trees. She was holding a wicker basket covered with an embroidered cloth. “I’m off to the Lake of Shining Waters,” she said. “Wait, Anne, wait,” I shouted after her, “Can I come with you.”

Ok, that was a stretch. The Anne part didn’t really happen. But where I was standing it could easily have happened. I imagined my favorite character in the book, “Anne of Green Gables” describing to me in flowery words the places and things I was seeing. With her passion for beautiful places, she would have been a great tour guide. Ever since I read the book (ok I read it more than a couple of time…